Hen not laying (under the age of two)

[DaveinAnaheim]

Need your advice. I aquired 3 hens from an egg factory. All three are right at two years old (or slightly under). Two of the three are laying daily. One is not laying at all. I have had them for a couple of weeks.

Any thoughts as to why a hen of this age would not lay?

 

[Pork Pie]

The stress of moving can cause some chickens to stop laying, so that could be the cause. Assuming that they are ex-battery hens, then the stress of moving could be compounded. Personally, I'd wait another couple of weeks before considering other possible causes.

All the best
CT

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi

Glad you could join the flock! I too agree with CT that mov g home can cause them not to lay. Especially as they have come form an egg factory when life can be stressful for them. Moving to a new home from that kind of environment can be a huge shock to their system. I'm sure with more time and lots of TLC she should settle and get her egg laying machine back in working order.

Good luck and enjoy BYC

 

[drumstick diva]

thank you for joining us at Backyard chickens.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

There is a reason why the egg factory sell them at this age. It is because they are about to go into moult and stop laying. It is not economic to keep them during this non laying period even though there are usually many more years of egg laying left in the hen. They get the most productive 18months out of them and then replace with new pullets. Most just go for meat (not that there is much on them) so it's great that you have given these girls a home and they will almost certainly reward you in due course, if not now, like two of them.
As others have said the change of environment is a big shock to their system, so that will also play into it, but it may be that this bird has already started her moult whereas the other two have yet to start. I imagine it may be difficult to tell that they are moulting with factory chickens as they often pluck their own feathers out of boredom but there is a seasonal cycle to it and it will probably take a couple of months for them to come back into production once they start, So don't be too despondent if the other two stop laying as well. They should eventually all grow beautiful new feathers and recommence laying you lots of eggs, but it may take more than a couple of weeks, so be patient.

Regards

Barbara

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC

Glad you joined the flock! I agree with the above posters, your hen may just need a bit more time to adjust to her new life. It's very kind of you to give these girls a chance at having a bit of life too!

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!